Tehran, Iran, June 24
Trend:
Lack of liquidity, strict Central Bank control, complex process of allocating official foreign currency rate for importing raw materials and wrong tax policies are the reasons for price hike on home appliances in Iran.
Iran's Home Appliances Association Secretary Habibollah Ansari discussed the latest situation in the mentioned sector in an interview with Trend.
"Iran's home appliances industry is one of the most diverse industries," he said.
"Today many home appliance parts are produced domestically and some parts are imported," he added.
"The quality of domestic products are monitored and are in good condition," he noted.
Ansari noted that the sector was overproducing in the last several years, but there is possibility to cut the production of low quality products.
"Due to sanctions and need for official foreign currency for imports, we are facing problems. There are parts like refrigerator compressors that should be imported to manufacture a refrigerator domestically," he said.
"Imports of these parts is problematic due to allocation of official foreign currency rate of 42,000 rials per US dollar and the long banking process to transfer the currency," he explained.
"The Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade has taken measures in the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2019) to solve the issue of raw materials, however the important issue is transferring foreign currency. This should be implemented by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), while many manufacturers upset with CBI's long process of managing allocation of official foreign currency rate," he said.
"Producers of home appliances used to pay for raw materials three to six months after the purchase but today it takes a lot longer, and the price should be paid six months prior to the purchase," he added.
"Banks still provide advances to producers with a 20-percent interest rate, however lack of liquidity is the major problem," he noted.
"The price on home appliances will drop, if the price of raw materials is reduced and the process to provide and transfer foreign currency will be shortened," he added.